


Now is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious

by Wolfsheart



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Family, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Loki is outdoorsy, M/M, Mutual Pining, Snow, There Is Only One Bed, Thor is a Good Bro (Marvel), Thor is a terrible brother, Yule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28168452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsheart/pseuds/Wolfsheart
Summary: Spending winter break with your best friend that you've crushed on forever can't be too uncomfortable, can it?
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 22
Kudos: 51
Collections: Frostiron Holiday Exchange 2020





	Now is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enemiesloversparadise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enemiesloversparadise/gifts).



> The "pirate poem" that's quoted is [Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee](https://allpoetry.com/Pirate-Don-Durk-of-Dowdee) by Mildred Plew Meigs. And I, like Loki, had this read to me when I was little, and crushed on pirates my whole life because of it. I blame my sister.
> 
> The sexy romantic poem referenced is Federico García Lorca's [[To find a kiss of yours]](https://poets.org/poem/find-kiss-yours).

* * *

"Wanna listen to something else?"

Tony glanced over at his passenger. He couldn't tell if Loki was bored or depressed or just lost in thought, but the screen on his tablet hadn't changed from the same page he'd been 'reading' for the last hour. 

"What?" Loki turned his head to look at Tony then reached over to turn down Black Sabbath playing from his friend's phone, which was blaring through the speakers. 

He focused back on the road, particularly since it was a little icy in patches, and they were about to pass the fourth semi since they'd left MIT. 

"If you're tired of the music, I can change it to something else. Or you could plug your phone in if you want something from your playlist," he offered. 

Loki sighed and set the tablet in his lap, completely defeated by his attention span so that he couldn't concentrate on anything. He ground his palm-heels against his eyes and fought a yawn that came anyway. Squirming and shifting in the passenger seat until his back popped and his hips stopped feeling like they'd been in a vise for hours. 

"Where are we exactly? I haven't really been paying attention," Loki asked and peered out the window, looking for a road sign of any kind up ahead. 

"We passed the turn off for Saugus about twenty minutes ago," Tony answered. He reached over and unplugged his phone from the cord and set it down into one of the empty drink holders then gestured to Loki for his phone. "We're making pretty good time, Lo," he added as he worried that his friend wasn't thrilled to be traveling with him. 

Turning off his tablet and tucking it into the black leather satchel at his feet, Loki then plucked his phone from the inside pocket of his jacket, which matched his satchel. Rather than hand it to Tony while he was driving on the snow-wet road, he plugged it in himself and brought up his folder of playlists. 

"That is pretty good time...all things considered," he replied and then gave Tony an apologetic half-smile when his words came out more snappish than he'd intended. "That was rude. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at..." 

"Thor. I know. I still can't believe he wrecked his truck and then just...took your car and left you stranded," Tony interjected. He spared a quick glance to see Loki plugging in his phone. He smiled and felt a tingle over his passenger feeling comfortable enough with him to share his music. "I thought you might get tired of my music and want some classical or opera," he remarked.

Loki arched an eyebrow but didn't look at Tony. His thumb pressed into buttons until he settled onto something. 

"Yes, I like classical and opera, but those would probably bore you so much that you'd fall asleep and crash us into a tree," he snarked back. "I thought you might give Forndom a chance." 

Before Tony could question, the steady beat of a northern tribal drum redirected his own heartbeat to matching its rhythm. The music could be hypnotic if he let it, but the further into the first song, the more it worked its way underneath his skin and set all nerve-endings on fire. He knew Loki listened to this and other Scandinavian alternative folk...or whatever this was classified as, and he'd even heard some of it when Loki was listening to it in their dorm when he, Loki, thought he was going to be alone for a while. However, Loki had never set out to share it with him before, and this...opening of a door into his friend and roommate's psyche felt significant. 

"Sure. Go for it. I've liked what I've heard when you've been listening to it," Tony replied. He caught the movement of Loki's hand as it tucked his phone into the holder attached to the air vent closest to the steering wheel. 

Tony couldn't help but stare at Loki's fingers while they adjusted the phone in place then played with the volume and other controls on the stereo. Loki's manicured nails were painted dark green with a metallic sheen, and that contrasted his creamy skin in a way that left Tony feeling warm and goosebumpy. It was all he could do to tear his eyes away from ogling his friend's hands and watch the road. 

"You could've said before. I could've played more," Loki replied as he shifted once more in his seat then clasped his hands together and twisted his fingers until his joints cracked like twigs. 

"You never seemed to want to, Lo. Your music...it kinda seemed private, like you didn't want anyone intruding on something that was...sacred," Tony explained and hoped that didn't sound ridiculous. When he dared a glance at his passenger, he caught Loki with a soft smile on his face and looking back at him. 

"I wouldn't have minded sharing with you," came Loki's confession after a few heartbeats of awkward silence, confirming Tony's observation about him and his music. "You are my roommate, after all," he covered. "Only time we moved was into the bigger dorm. You're bound to hear my music just as I hear yours all the time. I just never wanted to...bug you, I guess, with what I listen to. Especially since you tend to turn up your nose at the classical and opera." 

Loki tilted his head to study Tony's profile; to catch any expression that might give him any clue how to read his friend. Of course, he was waylaid by Tony's good looks and charm, which was such a trifling way to view the person he'd been crushing on for the last few years. Not that Loki could admit that out loud, especially since their first year or two in each other's presence kicked friendly into the dirt, bloodied its lip, and stole its lunch money. 

At fifteen, they were both little assholes entering into MIT with egos the size of Asia and the wounded self-esteems they were both overcompensating to protect. 

* * *

"Please tell me that you're only playing that old person music because your grandparents are here to see you off!" 

Loki looked up from his unpacking to see a scrawny kid with brown hair and eyes strutting into the dorm room, making a face like he'd just sucked on a lemon and was preparing to cough up a seed. He crouched at his dresser, putting away his clothes (underwear up top, tank tops just under that, t-shirts in the next two drawers – folded neatly and stacked sideways so he could see which one he was grabbing for – and the bottom two drawers were for scarves and hats), and now he stared at this guy, this scrunch-faced loud-mouth with shock that melted down into annoyance. 

"What?" Loki asked as he rose to his full height and stared at this intruder, who could only be his roommate. 

Oh joy.

"Your music...or rather _that_ music. It's...old. It's the kind of music my dad sleeps through when Mom drags him to concerts because she's tired of him being at work all the time." 

The guy walked right up to Loki, and they were just nearly the same height with Loki a breath taller, and he stuck his hand out, grasping Loki's whether he wanted the shake or not. 

"Tony Stark. That's my bunk over there, and uh...I guess just kick my clothes out of your way," he said as an introduction. 

Oh _hell_.

"Loki...uh...Loki Odinson," he provided and let Tony give his arm one rough pump before he extracted his hand and fought the childish urge to wipe his palm off on his jeans. "You look like you've lived here forever," he remarked and nodded to the overturned laundry basket that had vomited its contents across the floor. "Perhaps once I'm done packing, if...you need me to help you...with your side of the room, I could..." 

Tony stared at the kid, caught the way he tried to hide his horrified panic over the mess he'd just moved into. 

"I've been here since the start of the spring semester," Tony responded. "I think they wanted me to start this semester, but my dad's got a lot of influence...and uh...money, so they took me early."

Loki returned his attention to Tony's warm eyes and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. 

"That's cool of your dad." 

"No, that was my dad finally getting me out of his hair and house so that he could focus more on work, and he and Mom could travel more without having to worry about me," snarked the other teen. 

Wincing, Loki turned back to his unpacking in silence, only to utter a muted, "Sorry," to his roommate a few seconds later. He tucked one suitcase into the other then carried them over to his closet and tucked them away inside. Instead of returning right away to talk to Tony, he stayed in the closet and fussed with his clothes, changing around his order until they were exactly the way he wanted them. For now. When the room remained completely silent, other than the Mozart playing from his side, he assumed Tony had gone about his business and was leaving him alone, especially after their awkward start. 

He made up his mind to go back to his bed and maybe set up his kettle on the way so he could brew a decent cup of tea in the electric kettle his mom gave him as a dorm-warming gift (along with gift cards to the closest bookstore to campus and others to fast food places and other restaurants – "There's enough there, honey, that you can treat yourself and several new friends"). Loki turned only to find Tony in the same chess square that he currently occupied, causing the slightly taller teen to jump back and slam his spine into the doorjamb of his closet. 

"Oh hey...that looks like it hurt," Tony delivered in what Loki would later call his deadpan Captain Obvious way. "I was just coming to see if it would bother you if I played some Iron Maiden while I work on a project. Helps me think," he added as he offered Loki a hand as casually as he'd offer a pencil before an exam. When Loki didn't take it but merely remained plastered to the edge of his closet, Tony focused on unwrapping an imported candy bar, breaking off a piece to shove in his mouth. 

Loki's gaze found itself focused on the candy bar wrapper, and then his eyes narrowed. 

"Is that...mine, Stark?" he growled softly. 

"What? Oh yeah...I saw it lying on the top of the microwave next to that weird coffee pot. Hey, you know that thing doesn't have a place for coffee grounds? I don't know how you're gonna make coffee with that weird thing, but yeah, I found the candy bar there, and it looked like there were a couple more, so I didn't think you'd mind," Tony answered then finished chewing that first tab of expensive chocolate. Two more found their way to his mouth before he turned to walk back to the section of the dorm that had their beds and desks. "Right, so you're cool with me changing the music, which is good because I wouldn't get anything done at all with that geriatric shit you're listening to right now." 

Loki's eyes narrowed further as he stepped away from the closet to watch Tony walk away, still shoving his chocolate into his non-stop noisemaker. 

Perhaps he could suffocate his roommate in his sleep with his pillow. 

Oh yeah. MIT was going to be just great.

* * *

"...like this a lot, Lo. I don't understand a damned word of it, but this is great fucking music." 

Loki turned his head, blinking away those old memories as he focused on present moment Tony. That proud face in profile that he dreamt of far too often. He bit back a sigh as he realized that Tony had been speaking to him while he zoned out and stared at the snow-covered scenery. 

"I'm glad you like it, Tony, and you can always google the lyrics," he suggested as something green caught his eye. 

The road sign said _Ipswich 40 MI_. Loki felt himself both tense up and relax; that always happened the closer he got to home. The prospect of the holiday with his family brought tender feelings as well as apprehension, and this time, someone he liked a lot would be around to witness all the layers of awkwardness he experienced every time he was home. 

"Looks like we'll be there soon, Lo. Now's your chance to speak up. I can always keep going toward Canada..." 

Loki had rested his head against the cold glass, but when Tony spoke, he snapped up, one eyebrow arched as he listened to his friend's raving. 

"What?" 

"...we'll just run away together. Relocate to snowy Yukon, and you won't have to deal with your brother or his friends..." 

"Tony, you've lost your mind," Loki snarked and rolled his eyes as he shifted in his seat again, pretending that it was the road trip that was making him uncomfortable and not just his crush talking about running off together to Canada. "If you didn't want to go to my family's for the holiday, why did you accept Thor's invitation?" 

Tony braced his wrists against the steering wheel so he could pop his knuckles. He glanced away from all the white. Even that glimpse of Loki before he paid attention to the road again was enough to sustain him for now. 

"Kidding, Lo. I know we can't run off to Canada together. Neither of us have our passports on us. Wait." Tony laughed. "Do you have a passport?" 

Loki shook his head then swatted Tony's shoulder. "Of course, I do, and no, I don't have it on me. It's at home in my room. Locked away. And you didn't answer my question." 

"I do want to be at your parents' for the holidays. My only other choices were to go back home to Malibu to that empty house that I can't even stand because there's nothing of me in it save for collectibles and awards no one cared about...or to stay at MIT for the duration and be bored out of my mind because my best friend's stuck at his family home being picked on mercilessly by _son frère et ses amis_ ," Tony explained as he laughed and dodged another hit. 

Hmphing and dropping his hand back to his lap, Loki just side-eyed Tony. 

"Well, at least, your French is finally improving," he teased and caught the puckish grin pulling back at one corner of Tony's mouth. "So, hanging out with your so-called best friend at his sprawling family estate in Ipswich is a what? A consolation prize because your beach bunnies all had other plans, as did your MIT babes?" 

Without warning, Tony swerved his car – his very expensive cherry red, fully restored 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 – over to the side, making a note to thank the universe that there was a healthy shoulder that kept him out of other traffic's way as well as from diving right into the trees at the edge of their world. He drove on this not even a whole minute while he slowed down. 

Loki felt his soul leave his body when Tony jerked them onto the shoulder. One hand gripped the 'oh shit' handle while his other flailed out to clutch a fistful of Tony's shirt in his fingers. He just barely missed digging his nails into Tony's skin underneath his shirt, and he missed his friend's shiver, as if he'd just had that very thought, too, and thought about those painted nails scratching him. Once Tony came to a complete stop, Loki stared at him, eyes wide, the breath he held burning his lungs. 

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Carefully, Tony pried Loki's grip from his shirt and held his hand a little longer than would be friendly. He turned in his seat just enough to meet his wild gaze. 

"Let's get one thing straight, Lo. You are not my 'so-called best friend'. You _are_ my best friend. Period." Tony caught the start of Loki rolling his eyes and looking away, and he let go of his friend's hand to turn his face back toward his. "You are. Second...you're not a consolation prize. There aren't any MIT babes at the moment. None that would make me want to stay at the school over coming to hang out with you and your weird-ass family over the holidays." 

"My family's not interesting enough to be that weird," Loki scoffed and shifted so that his face wasn't so easily in Tony's reach. He stretched then brushed his hands over his arms, allowing his breathing to come back to normal. 

Tony smirked. "Alright then. To hang out with your weird-ass self. Is that better?" He poked Loki in the side in several places until he made him squirm and fight back a giggle. Then he poked him even more. 

"Yes...that's better. I suppose. Now are you going to drive or are we going to spend the duration of the break here on the side of the road with your ridiculously red penis flag attracting attention against all this snow?" Loki glanced over at Tony again, eyebrows raising expectantly as he jerked his head toward the road. 

"We're gonna go, but you have to say it first, Lo." 

"Say what, asshole?" Loki held in the sigh denoting his impatient. 

"Swear you're gonna say it or else we're camping out here through the holiday." 

"Ugh...you're such a pain in my ass," Loki fought it but watched as Tony reached for his keys to turn off the engine. "Alright...I swear I'll say it. What exactly do you want me to say?" 

Tony grinned cautiously, his hand hovered near the keys. 

"Swear on your favorite book of poetry," he hedged and tried not to laugh at the 'eat shit and die' look he was given. "C'mon. Indulge me." 

Loki groaned. "I think you've been indulged entirely too much in your life, Tony." When it was obvious Tony refused to relent and even started to reach for his keys again just to aggravate him, Loki threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright. I swear on my favorite book of poetry. Now what the hell do you want me to say so we can get back on the road?" 

"Alright...this is gonna be good. Say exactly this. I, Loki Odinson..." Tony gestured that Loki was to speak after him and repeat everything he said. 

"I, Loki Odinson..." 

"...am Anthony Edward Stark's best friend in the whole world." 

"You've got to be joking," Loki fussed. 

"Say it, Lo, or you better be okay with sleeping in my ridiculously red penis flag for the next month and a half." 

Loki rolled his eyes. "Am Anthony Edward Stark's best friend in the whole world. There now..." 

Tony shook his head. He wasn't done yet. 

"And I am not now nor ever should have been nor ever will be anyone's consolation prize..." 

With even greater reluctance, Loki repeated everything Tony said, word for word, just wanting to get this humiliating moment over with so they could arrive at his family's home where even more humiliating moments would take place. 

"...because I _am_ THE prize," Tony finished at last, once more pulling that shit-eating grin when the death-glare returned. 

"I hate you," Loki snarled, so completely done with Tony's cheesy remarks. 

But then he repeated it before turning the stereo volume up to blare his music over Tony's laughter. 

* * *

Loki endured the hugs and kisses from his mother, making the requisite scrunchy-nosed face of disapproval, even as he hugged her back. 

What Loki was unaware of was that Tony was adept at noticing the details his friend thought he was cleverly hiding in his act of rebellion and embarrassment. He caught the way Loki's mouth tugged back ever so slightly in a smile, and when he hugged his mother back, his arms wrapped tighter around her and held on longer than even Frigga did. Loki had also tilted his face a little to bury it – just for a split second! – in the crook of her neck before finally letting go to pull back and continue the wrinkle of his nose and voiced protests. 

"Mom, please. You saw me at Thanksgiving," he fussed. 

"And Thanksgiving didn't last very long at all, and now I have you home for weeks. Weeks! I have so much planned. I have..." 

Loki took one of her hands as it reached for his cheek, interrupting its flight. 

"Please don't plan my every moment, Mom. I want to rest up. It was a tough semester," Loki replied. It wasn't that rough of a semester; he'd sailed through all of his homework and tests, even though there were a lot of papers given the current direction he was taking toward completing another degree. "Besides, I brought a friend with me, and I'd like to show him around." 

"Don't you mean your friend brought you?"

Thor stepped into the front room, his booming voice bouncing off the walls. He reached up and swiped his fingers against the holly garland around the doorway between this room and the formal dining room. A shit-eating grin met Loki's scowl, and Thor chased that with a laugh. 

"Thanks to someone taking my car without asking if it was okay," Loki snarled. 

"Alright, boys," Frigga tempered and stood between them, even though Loki made no attempt to advance on his brother, and Thor stood still with his arms crossed over his chest like an unmovable wall. 

"I wrecked my truck. How was I supposed to get home with Fandral and Hogun? Your car wouldn't have been big enough for us and you in it. Besides, you and Tony are friends. I'm sure he didn't mind bringing you home," Thor defended his actions. 

"No, I didn't, but..." 

"There! See? Tony took care of you just fine," Thor cut off their mutual friend, who appeared a little perturbed to be interrupted. 

Loki crossed his arms over his chest. He and Thor were twenty paces and ready to shoot each other at the stare level alone; Loki would lose any other kind of battle with Thor, save that of a battle of wits. The silence could be cut with the daggers that they glared at each other. To Thor's side, Fandral and Hogun just watched with bated breath to see which brother would crack first. They were used to this sort of animosity, and sometimes they egged it on. Well, Fandral certainly did. Hogun was a silent spectator and never instigated anything, nor did he try to stop it from happening either. 

Tony cleared his throat and interrupted the show-down by stepping closer to Frigga and kissing her cheek. 

"Thanks for letting me come, Mrs. Odinson," he said. "I really appreciate not having to stay at the dorms or go back to an empty house on the opposite coast." 

Frigga smiled and patted his hand, even as she kept her eyes on her sons. 

"You're very welcome, Anthony, but you can call me Frigga. Most of Thor's friends already do." She couldn't recall many times when Loki had brought friends around. She didn't think he'd had many friends, merely content to tag along with Thor and his friends. "Now, why don't you show Tony upstairs, Loki? Dinner will be at six-thirty. I'm making something special. Maybe you'd like to help me?" She watched Loki expectantly, but he still hadn't backed down from Thor's gaze yet. 

Tony nudged Loki in the side, and the spell was finally broken. Loki had to blink first, and he turned to look at his best friend and his mother. 

"What? Sorry...I missed that," he admitted. 

"Help me with supper tonight? I'm cooking one of your favorites," Frigga repeated with that added incentive that earned her an almost shy smile out of her youngest. 

Loki leaned close and kissed her cheek then stood back by Tony. 

"Of course, Mom. You know I'm always willing to help," Loki replied and cast a snide look at Thor. Thor rarely did anything in the kitchen except eat and leave behind a mess. 

"I'll help, too, Mrs....Frigga," Tony blurted out. 

Frigga smiled at all of 'her boys', even Thor and his friends, but she reached out to cup both Loki's and Tony's cheeks. 

"Sweet boys. Of course, I'll love the extra help from you, Anthony," she told him then patted both on their shoulders. "Alright with you both. Upstairs and settle in. Get comfortable." She stepped back so they could gather their bags. 

Loki grabbed his satchel and the couple of bags he brought home. There were a few more in Tony's car, but he wanted to sneak them in after everyone was in bed because they held presents that he'd wrapped up at school and intended to stick under the tree as soon as he was sure Thor wouldn't shake them all to guess what they were only to leave them broken by his big dumb paws. He glanced over to see Tony right there by him with his own luggage, and they started to head back out to the front hall since Thor and his friends were blocking the back stairway at the end of the kitchen. Just as he and Tony started to disappear from view, he heard Thor call out to him. 

"Oh hey, Loki. Tony'll have to bunk in with you. Hogun and Fandral are already in the guest rooms." 

When Loki turned to glare at Thor, he saw that his brother gave him that triumphant 'I just ate your last pint of chocolate mint ice cream that you were saving for the right moment ha ha ha' grin. He wished he could set things on fire with his mind; that giant blond asshole would be the first thing to go up in flames.

"Loki-dear, your room's plenty big enough for you and your friend," Frigga soothed so that another fight wouldn't break out and wreck her kitchen. Just when it seemed like she wouldn't take Loki's side at all, she turned her blue eyes, so like Thor's own, at her eldest and arched an eyebrow at him. She was so good at that silent gesture that Thor could feel the disappointment ice his veins from three feet away. He took a step back, and his shit-eating grin became sheepish then disappeared. 

Sighing, Loki looked over at Tony when his friend set a hand on his shoulder. 

"Come on, Tony. Let's get out of here before Thor finds some other way to destroy the holiday for both of us," Loki groused as he stalked toward the stairs. 

Tony climbed up the stairs behind Loki, his eyes naturally falling onto the gentle sway of hips in front of him. He waited until he was certain they were out of earshot before he spoke. 

"It's okay, Lo. Really. It's not like we don't share space every day," he reassured his best friend. 

Loki didn't respond right away. He was too busy fuming to the point that he wondered if actual smoke was coming out of his ears or flames dancing out of the collar of his shirt. He turned down the hall toward his room, Thor's, and the occupied guest bedrooms, fully expecting to see Thor and the other two already in the hall waiting to heap more humiliations on him. Especially with Tony present to witness and feel pity. At the far end of the hall, however, Loki turned the knob and pushed open the door, gesturing to Tony. 

"Welcome to my sanctuary...made only so by the lock that I finally convinced my parents I needed right after my first semester at MIT." He leaned against the doorway while Tony walked inside, and then he followed and closed the door, turning said lock until it clicked. "I came home for the first holiday break, and Thor had come in and rummaged through all of my stuff, broke a few things, took a few things that he said were now his because I wasn't here to use them." Another sigh escaped him while he set his bags down by the dresser then carried the satchel to the big desk near the windows. He pulled on the cord that opened the curtains onto a view of the ocean in the distance. 

"Shit, Lo. That's horrible. I knew Thor was an asshole, but I didn't realize he was that much of an asshole," Tony sympathized. He stood there, having set his bags down out of the way for now, feeling a little awkward and helpless as to how to comfort his best friend. Finally, he walked over and set a hand to Loki's lower back. "You know if you ever want to talk...or even rant about Thor, I'll listen. Free of charge. Or maybe you can buy me coffee, but that'll be up for negotiation." Then he chuckled. "Nah, it'll be free. I can make coffee." 

That made Loki's mouth quirk in a one-sided smile. 

"Tony, you're not very good at making coffee. Best to let me make it...or we'll go out for it," he replied and found himself learning back into that warm palm. That quirk of a smile widened just a hint when he heard warm laughter at his shoulder. 

"Fair enough, Lo. Maybe that's something you can do while we're here. Show me around your hometown. Buy me a local coffee. Oh hey, I saw signs up about...wolves here? Maybe we can spot some," Tony said, growing more enthusiastic with each word. 

Loki turned slightly to look down into Tony's eyes, as if searching for a hint of insincerity. After all, Tony was a city boy, both for California and Boston and whatever jaunts he took to Manhattan when the mood struck him. He didn't think his friend was the outdoorsy type; then again, it would surprise some people that Loki was. 

"I can do that," he promised. "We've got time before we need to help Mom with supper. I can, at least, show you one or two trails close to the house. If you're interested in wandering around in the snow," came the offer with a half-dismissive shrug. 

The passive overture met with Tony's approval. He nodded and started away from Loki to make sure he had his gloves on once more. Tony didn't see the resignation slip across his best friend's features the moment his touch had been taken away, the wistfulness in those green eyes or the way that smile drooped slightly. When he looked at Loki once more, the smile was back, the sparkle back in his eyes. 

"You really are a goofball, city boy," Loki teased and walked over to his dresser where he'd tossed his gloves. He tugged them back on and shrugged into his coat once more. When he glanced over at Tony again, he tsked and tugged one of his own scarves from a drawer then stepped right up to him, gently wrapping it around his neck and earlobes. After that, he grabbed a matching cap, which he tugged down on Tony's head. They were two of Loki's favorites that Frigga had knitted for him, done in his favorite verdant shades with black and gold peppered in. "There. I won't have my best friend freezing to death and getting sick on my watch," Loki said in a voice more dear than he'd intended while he inspected Tony for any signs of potential openings for cold. 

"City boy...like you're some great explorer of the wilds, Loki Odinson," Tony chided right back. Something told him he was about to eat those words, but he would never let a tease go unanswered. He looked at himself in the mirror and laughed. "I'm that kid in _A Christmas Story_!" he exclaimed and even held his coated arms out. When he glanced back up at Loki, who was busy donning his own scarf and hat, that were in another series of greens, this time shot through with soft blues. 

Once they were bedecked enough to survive the weather outside, Loki plucked his cellphone from his pocket and set it on silent, which would include the camera. He gestured for Tony to do the same because if he knew his friend as well as he thought he did, Mr. 'I'll Bury My Head in My Technology and Forget to Eat' Stark would see one fat bunny in the snow and want photos of it, and between his squealing and the clicks of his phone's camera, it would scare away all the wildlife in the vicinity.

Tony pouted a little when Loki didn't react with recognition or joy over his movie reference, but he did as instructed and silenced his phone before tucking it into his coat pocket. 

"Alright. Lead on, MacGruff!"

Loki groaned at Tony's butchering of Shakespeare but reached out and grabbed him by the coat sleeve to tug him toward his door. He gave him a gentle shove into the hall then closed and locked his room up. 

"Don't make me abandon you in the snow. I would leave you to the perils of the wild with great relish," Loki snarked at him then tugged Tony toward the back stairs where they could escape through the kitchen door.

"Great relish...who talks like that?" Tony jibed back and poked Loki in the ribs where he knew a ticklish spot lurked and giggled when Loki squirmed then shushed when he was gestured to do that as well. 

Downstairs, they tiptoed past the den, which also served as a game room, and where currently Thor and his friends were hanging out, a cacophony of shouts and laughter and clacking billiard balls announcing their descent into holiday leisure. Tony couldn't help but notice the way Loki's fair complexion became refulgent once they stepped out of the house's artificial lights and into the winterlight reflected off the snow. He couldn't stop staring at first, and when he finally tore his eyes away to focus on the path Loki was guiding them to, he thought about the paths that brought them to this moment. 

* * *

"Tony-goddammit!" Loki yelled for the fifth time this week. He was so close to finishing his paper on queer theories in _Romeo and Juliet_ , and his copy of the play had disappeared. He was so close! And now he was so close to dragging Tony up to the roof of their dorm so he could push him over the edge and hope he didn't land in a snow bank to cushion the fall. 

Loki rubbed his forehead right in the place where he felt a headache forming, and a sigh so heavy it could propel a ship's sails forward on the sea pushed out of his lips. He'd already counted to twenty. Twice. Now he stood up and headed for his shoes and wallet since he'd have to go buy a new copy. He was just jingling his keys into his pocket when the dorm door flew open and a wild-eyed and out of breath Tony hurried through the door. 

"Tony-goddammit," Loki snarled, but his protests were cut off by Tony nearly stumbling right up to him, waving a copy of the play in front of Loki's face. 

Then Loki had to stand there and wait while Tony heaved through catching his breath so he could speak. He tried not to roll his eyes too loud when his drama queen of a roommate was taking longer than necessary to get out his explanation before Loki eviscerated him. It had been two years of rooming together, and Loki had come to grudgingly accept Tony's offers of friendship, even though the tech and science nerd still grated on his nerves most days. Of course, he also had to contend with Thor and two of his friends from back home invading his space now that they were graduated from high school and attending MIT as well. At least, Thor was following in their father's hopes to obtain some sort of business degree while Loki was working through his first English SB and simultaneously starting another in languages – focusing on the Scandinavian set first – neither of which pleased Odin Borsson at all, since he saw neither pursuit as practical or profitable. 

"Speak up, Tony. I haven't got all damned day," he snapped and that brought Tony's breaths to a halt, calming instantly before it was clear he'd be ready to speak. 

"Sorry. I just. Sorry," Tony started. He waved the book again but wouldn't let Loki take possession of it. Not yet. "Thor was here earlier. He was looking for you for...I don't know...he said you were supposed to meet him tonight and go to supper with your dad who's in town? And when I told him you weren't here and I didn't know when you'd be back, he acted a little put out, said to tell you he was looking for you, and then he saw your book on your desk and grabbed it. He left before I could get a hold of it, but I chased him outside..." 

"I'm going to kill my brother," Loki snarled. 

"...and he was tossing the book around with those friends of his. Fandral and...Hogun. And I mean, there's snow all over the ground, and..." 

Loki's eyes darkened to a shade Tony could only describe as 'the heart of the witch's forest' green, and he could tell that his roommate and friend – Tony thought of them as friends from the time Loki moved in, so now he thought of him as edging closer to best friend status – was about to go nuclear on his gigantic jock of a brother, which would just leave Loki with a bloody nose again and perhaps even another sprained wrist, which would be terrible for finishing a big end of the semester paper. 

"...hey no wait! I...well, I rescued it. Well. I mean, I tried to grab it mid-air, and I almost had it because Hogun isn't much taller than me, but then Thor reached out and knocked it away from my grasp, and it landed in the snow." He nibbled his lip. "Opened...and face down. In the snow." He winced and waited for Loki to explode. 

But Loki just closed his eyes, took twenty deep breaths, and probably counted to a million. He glanced over his shoulder at his computer screen and the flashing cursor that awaited his return to wrap up the last few paragraphs. His shoulders dropped to the floor. 

"I'm going to kill him," he muttered but there was no bite to his threat. No fire. Just surrender. 

Tony reached out and touched Loki's shoulder then brought up the book. "I went to buy you a new copy," he stated and brought the book up again so Loki could see it. "It's okay. I got you a new copy." 

Loki looked at the pristine book in Tony's hand, not even registering the warm palm on his shoulder. 

"Thank you," he finally said. "Really. I appreciate that, Tony, but...the other book had all my notes, all my highlighted parts that I need. I'm so close to finishing, and now I'll have to try and remember..." 

Tony's lips quirked back in a tentative smile as he opened up the pages of the brand new copy to show passages that had been highlighted, and the tech student's scrawl attempting to recapture Loki's notes. He dropped his other hand from Loki's shoulder to pull out the copy that had been dropped in the snow out of his pocket, the pages dry but warped, and all of Loki's beautiful handwriting slightly smeared. 

"I tried my best to copy it over for you. I probably fucked it up, but...I hope you can salvage enough to finish your paper." 

Loki stared at the two copies of the play being offered to him. His heart stopped then skipped several beats trying to start again. It seemed as if he'd gone deaf for several breaths because he couldn't hear anything with the ground swallowing him up. He blinked, his eyes going from book to book and then to Tony's frantic eyes. His hands in slow motion reached for both books, and once he had them, Tony let go but didn't step away from them, even though they were in each other's personal space. 

"Tony..." 

"I'm sorry if it's not perfect, Lo. I just wanted you to..." 

"Tony- _goddammit_ ," Loki nearly whimpered and threw out his aloof demeanor to wrap his arms around his roommate in a tight hug, his body sagging in relief against the other student. 

Tony hugged him back just as tight, and he laughed so that his breath was warm against Loki's neck. 

"I guess that's a thank you? And uh...is that my nickname now? Tony-goddammit?" 

He laughed again when that made Loki laugh. It was a significant elevation in their friendship, and he hoped that Loki knew that he had someone in his corner rather than having to shoulder everything alone. 

* * *

Everywhere Tony looked, the world was blanketed in white. He'd been around snow off and on his whole life. Not in Malibu really, but his parents liked to take skiing trips sometimes to either Big Bear Lake or other places outside the state, and then there was Boston in the winter and NYC whenever he drove up there to party once he was on winter break. This was different. It was...special. Dare he think... _magical_? The day's light sparkled across the snow on the ground and in the trees like someone had upended several barrels of iridescent glitter all over the place. Right at first, when Loki led him down a trail, Tony worried that they wouldn't be able to find their way back, and he kept thinking they should make notches in trees. The further they walked, however, the more obvious it was that Loki knew exactly where they were going. 

It didn't hurt that wherever they were, Loki could point through the stands of trees to the smoke from the chimney at his house. 

Now Tony stared between the trees at a large buck with what looked to him to be a supernaturally huge set of antlers. When Loki first stopped them there so that he'd see the wildlife, Tony was prone to squealing until his friend clamped his gloved hand over his mouth. Both snapped a few photos of the buck as well as the doe that walked up to join him not long after. 

While Tony snapped photos of the woodland pair, Loki took a few of them himself, but then he snuck in ones just of Tony's look of awe with the deer in the background. He was so charmed by his friend's reverent joy over something so common to Loki's growing up here. 

"Do you think they realize we're here?" Tony whispered as softly as he could. 

"Of course, they do. As long as you don't make any loud noises, they'll be content to stay and let us observe them," Loki answered while he tucked his phone back in his pocket after checking the time, surprised that they'd been out for as long as they had been. Time seemed different when Loki was with Tony. He spared one long look at his friend's profile before setting his eyes once more on the deer that were happily munching on whatever plant life they came across poking through the snow. 

They would have to return to the house soon enough so they could clean up, warm up, and make their way to the kitchen to help Frigga with dinner. Not that Loki wanted to go back yet. He'd allowed Tony to see another side to him, the nature-y side that Loki just took as a part of him and never really considered that it would come across as so enchanting to someone else. 

Tony had torn his gaze from the pair, his lips parted to speak to Loki about them, but his words turned to icicles on his lips and dropped away. When he'd thought Loki looked magical earlier, it was just the tip of this iceberg that apparently his friend had somehow kept hidden from him until this moment. _Magical_ was entirely understatement. Loki was practically incandescent in the woods, as if they increased the fairy magic he possessed the longer he was in them. Snowflakes that had fallen since they'd come out rested on Loki's black eyelashes, and the cold had brought faint roses to his cheeks. It might sound entirely unscientific, but Loki's whole aura hummed with sorcery that made it even harder for Tony with the feelings that threatened to explode his heart whenever they were together. 

Extended silence from Tony tended to mean that the tech student had lost himself in a project and was forgetting to eat. So Loki tilted his head to find himself meeting that intense gaze. He blinked and the melted snowflakes rolled onto his cheeks. 

"What?" Loki questioned in that whispered tone. 

Realizing that he'd been caught staring, Tony cleared his throat and gestured out to the deer. "I...I...I was just going to say that...they're really gorgeous, and it must've been really awesome for you...you know, growing up here in such a uh...magical place," he stammered and met Loki's stare before his shoes suddenly became interesting, so he missed the way his best friend's dark eyebrow arched. 

He also missed the disappointed look on Loki's face when his explanation was nothing more than about the deer and the woods, as if Loki had hoped Tony staring at him was for another reason entirely. 

Loki glanced at his phone again to check the time, but when he looked back at Tony, those ever-watchful eyes were already back on the deer. He was flummoxed as to why being around Tony – who infuriated him to no end sometimes – made his heart pulsate so much stronger than when he was by himself. When Tony hugged him or insisted on giving him backrubs after he'd sat for hours at his computer writing papers, it always left him covered in goosebumps and a little out of breath. 

Now he stared at Tony's profile and took note of how tanned he always looked, even in winter when he hadn't been near a beach since Spring Break. Loki thought there was something regal about Tony's face, but he couldn't place it other than to stare forever at his jaw and think he could command people with just the tilt of that chin. Now that they were older, Tony sported a trimmed goatee, which made him look more like that pirate from the kids' poem that Loki crushed on after Frigga started reading it to him before bed: _It’s true he was wicked as wicked could be, /His sins they outnumbered a hundred and three, /But, oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see_. His eyes were kind, though, and shone with the light of his genius as well as the spark of mischief, which Loki was always drawn toward, if he were ever pressed to admit. 

"...you okay...?"

It was Loki's turn to shake his head back into the here and now and discovered that Tony caught him gawking. His cheeks crisped, and he was thankful that his wintry complexion was an excuse for the blush. 

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking we might want to head back. That way we can...kick back a little and warm up before Mom calls us down to help with supper," Loki managed – he hoped – to cover for his rude stare. His eyes dropped his eyes to his phone then tucked it into his back pocket. "Unless you want to stare at the deer some more? I mean, unless you plan to strand me here with my brother and his friend, we'll have a month to explore, and I promise to show you more trails like this," he offered, not catching how soft and tentative and wistful his voice had become. His shoulders hunched a little, and he didn't want to see the possible enthusiasm to jump at that chance of escape in Tony's face. 

A hand reached out and didn't playfully slug Loki's arm. Fingers curled around Loki's arm instead, and when those eyes peeked up at him through dark lashes, Tony was smiling. 

"Nah. You're stuck with me for the duration, Lo. You're gonna have to toss my ass out into the snow if you get sick of me," he pledged. "I want to see your hometown. All of it. You've got more trails like this, I want in on 'em, okay?" He was a little put out to see the astonishment in Loki's eyes when he looked at him, but Tony wasn't mad-mad. Maybe a little sad that Loki felt he couldn't completely trust his sincerity. 

"Deal," Loki finally agreed and set a hand onto Tony's still grasping his arm. Then he gave that hand a tug as he turned and it dropped from his arm. "Let's go. I bet Mom'll have some mulled cider on already. I bet you haven't had anything like this," he stated and guided them back the way they'd come, following what tracks of theirs were the deepest. 

Tony made a sound like an inconvenienced cat. "I've had cider!" he protested but was one hundred percent in agreement with Loki that this would be different from anything he'd ever drunk. 

Loki snorted and a puff of air appeared in front of his nose. "Apple juice in a sippy cup and commercial hard cider don't count, city boy," he teased. 

Pretending to still be vexed but grinning at Loki's back all the same, always enjoying their banter, Tony kept up then stepped beside his best friend. His hand itched to take Loki's and slot their fingers together, but he didn't want to be left for dead in the snow. 

"Always gotta be an asshole, don't you, Lo?" Tony snarked, and they both laughed hard enough that their joy was evidenced in more puffs of air in front of their faces. 

* * *

Loki looked over when he heard Tony swearing softly under his breath. It was evident that his friend wasn't used to cooking for himself other than tossing pizza rolls into the microwave in their dorm or wandering down the hall to the communal kitchen to utilize the oven for frozen pizza. Shaking his head and tsking gently, Loki moved over and checked out Tony's hands to make sure he hadn't cut himself, and when he assessed that he hadn't, that Tony was just having a difficult time cutting the peeled sweet potatoes, he took pity and gentled his smirk. He nudged Tony with his hip and started to show him the proper way to cut the harder potatoes. 

"You know, you are a guest, Tony. You don't have to help if you'd rather not," he whispered so he wouldn't embarrass him with Frigga at the other side of the kitchen, prepping the large pieces of salmon partially smoked earlier that day. 

Tony peeked around Loki to make sure Frigga couldn't see that he was having difficulty with the food prep. When Loki had held both of his hands to look them over, he'd hoped he wasn't blushing too noticeably or that Loki would catch on to the slight shiver at his touch. Then he watched him demonstrate how to do something so simple as cut a damned potato. The fact that Loki was so good at this...kitchen and cooking stuff made Tony feel like a slacker; but he'd come from a lot of money and there'd always been Edwin and Ana Jarvis in his parents' home, so he'd never had to cook a thing in his life. 

He needed to step up his game. 

He met Loki's curiosity and answered, "No, I _want_ to help, Lo. I've just never had to do this before, so I kinda suck at it, but you're showing me, so thank you. I just." He lifted a shoulder practically up to his earlobe. "This is nice for me. I don't really have...family anymore. You know? I mean, there's Jarvis and his wife, but...they deserve to have their own life now and not always get stuck with me underfoot to take care of. So...I get to pretend while I'm here that I've..." 

"Don't even finish that sentence, Tony," Loki half-snapped but in a quiet tone that wouldn't alert anyone else. Well, he didn't see Frigga side-eye them and their whispering, but at least, she wasn't going to pry and embarrass Tony. "Just don't. You don't have to pretend at all here. This...I mean...you know, we..." He licked his lips. "...we could be your family, if you really like. After all, you're already crazy enough to think of me as your best friend, and it's not like I'm always the nicest to you." 

They stared at each other for eons in clumsy silence. Movie soundtracks played in both of their heads, each one seeing a scene play out in their minds. 

Of course, while Loki's soundtrack moment was likely something dramatic and sweet like Stevie Nicks or even Journey, Tony's moment was full on Meatloaf. 

"Boys? I need those potatoes on the stove soon if we're going to eat sometime tonight," Frigga scolded gently and turned her head to silently chuckle when both young men jumped a mile. 

"Yes, Mom."

"Yes, Frigga." 

It was then that Odin walked into the kitchen, having just returned home from business meetings all day, and he one-eyed the two boys on his way over to greet his wife. When he whispered his question about Tony's presence, she reminded him of who Tony was and that he was here for the holiday. 

And while she whispered back Tony's family status, Loki stepped back over to finish cutting up the carrots for roasting and let Tony go back to chopping potatoes. He was touched that Tony would want to even pretend his sometimes messed up family was his. Loki was glad he was still surrounded by his family, no matter how infuriating they could be, especially his father and brother. 

* * *

Loki stepped into the dorm, arms laden with extra books on top of the ones he left for the library with. He was at the end of the semester; his last paper was due in a week. It took him a moment to figure out what was wrong after he closed the door. The whole dorm was dark. There wasn't even a glow from his or Tony's computers, and the blinds were closed and covering the windows. He blinked a couple of times for his eyes to adjust so that he could make it to his side of the dorm to dump his books on the bed before he tripped and dropped everything. 

"Tony?" he called out. 

He thought he heard a muffled sound coming vaguely from Tony's side of the room. Loki set everything down and unraveled himself from coat and scarf before he felt his way over to his roommate's bed. He patted the surface until he felt the lump under the blanket and felt it breathing, ascertaining that this was Tony. 

And he hoped it wasn't one of Tony's 'afternoon delights' that he was fondling. 

"Tony, what's wrong?" 

From underneath the blanket, Tony muttered, "Dead, Lo. They're both dead." 

Fuck. 

"Who's dead, Tony?" Loki sat down on the bed as soon as he could find a place that wasn't occupied by some part of Tony, and he set a hand on what he assumed was Tony's back. 

"Parents. Both gone. Boom." 

However, Tony's voice was too monotone for Loki's tastes, so he reached out and felt around until he felt the switch of Tony's bedside lamp and turned it on. He squinted, but when he looked, Tony was entirely under his blankets. Gently, Loki tugged them away so he could see his face. 

"What do you mean...boom? Tony, talk to me," Loki replied in the barest whisper, afraid that if he spoke too loud, it would break his fragile friend. 

With a heavy sigh, Tony managed to scoot over on the bed to simultaneously make more room for Loki but also squirm enough to wind up with one arm curled around Loki's thigh, his cheek resting against his friend's knee. 

"Promise you won't leave, Lo?" Tony asked, his eyes wide and red from crying. 

Loki felt a little weirded out by Tony's desperation, but he didn't move. He kept his hand on Tony's back. 

"Tony, you know I'm not going to leave. I live..." 

But Tony tightened his hold on Loki's thigh and nuzzled his cheek down harder. 

"Promise!" 

Loki, in a near panic because of Tony's strange, clingy behavior, began to rub his roommate's back. He even slipped his hand under the covers to make more direct connection.

"Alright, Tony. I promise. I won't leave. You're stuck with me for the duration," he vowed and shifted again so that he could push off his sneakers with his toes. Well, he could push one shoe off that way. The other he had to lean over slightly and remove it with his hand since Tony currently held that leg hostage. "Now tell me what happened. What's this about your parents being dead and...boom?" 

Another heavy sigh escaped Tony. 

"Last night, some asshole...some _drunk_ asshole...slammed into my parents' car while they were driving home from some...benefit concert," Tony explained, his voice cracking. "School nurse and the dean came and got me out of class earlier. Told me the crash killed Mom on impact. Dad was thrown from the car, and he made it as far as the emergency room then died." 

Loki closed his eyes and felt his chest tighten. He'd never met Tony's parents, but he knew his roommate had a strained relationship with his dad, especially, and Loki could always relate to that. The last year, after the book incident, they'd talked more, and what enmity had been there – at least, on Loki's side since that first day in the dorm – sort of melted away through late night conversations about parents and family and bullshit expectations. What started out as one-upmanship bragging on whose dad was worse, Tony found out that Loki had been adopted just days after he'd been born to some unknown in Dalvik. Well, at least, Odin and Frigga never knew anything about Loki's birth mother or father since the records were sealed, and according to what they'd told Loki, it never mattered to them where he came from. He was theirs. However, with that adoption came the expectations of a man with a long line of unrelenting traditions that Loki could never quite live up to. 

"Fuck, Tony," he murmured and did the only thing he could think of, which was what Frigga would do for him or Thor if they were this wrecked. He gathered Tony in his arms and held him, giving silent permission to his friend to break down if he needed to without judgment or ridiculing. 

And Tony did just that.

* * *

Tony was too busy eating the best homecooked meal of his life to really contribute to the conversation around the dinner table. Whatever magic Frigga and Loki worked on the meal together, he wanted in on it more often. He wanted to learn this beyond peeling and chopping potatoes, and after the third bite of bourbon-glazed smoked salmon, he found his voice again. 

"Frigga, do you think...maybe...while we're here, you and Lo could teach me how to cook like this? All of this is just...amazing." 

He wondered if he had something on his face when the conversations quieted. 

Loki chuckled. "Sure, Tony. You thinking of stealing some of Mom's recipes so you can wow all your girlfriends on campus?" he teased, and at least two people at the table could tell that his smile was forced. 

Tony almost couldn't hide the hurt on his face fast enough at Loki's suggestion. 

"Noooooo, Mr. Sass. It's not for all those girls. Besides, I...haven't really been seeing any of them lately. Not that you'd notice with your face in all those psych books," he snarked right back before scooping a bite of the sweet potatoes into his mouth. 

"Then why would you bother right now? The only kitchen you have access to is the communal one on our floor, and half the time the stove doesn't even work," Loki nettled and nudged Tony's knee under the table. 

"Well, if you must know," Tony started and glanced at the others until they partly went back to their own discussions, and only halfway paid attention to what the two were saying. "I've been thinking about finally moving off campus. Getting an apartment. Stop having an RA breathing down my neck every time I need to work on a class project in the room that involves...soldering and..." 

Loki's face fell visibly. "Oh. You...you're planning on leaving?" He stabbed his fork into a bite of carrot. "When?" Loki missed the side-eye from the watchful mama bear at the table as well as from the big brother. 

Confused, Tony knocked his knee into Loki's and made sure his roommate was looking at him. "Sorry. Didn't make myself clear. I've been thinking about _us_ moving off campus. Getting an apartment together." He realized how it could be taken, and while he wouldn't mind that at all, he wouldn't assume the feelings were more than one-sided hopes. 

The fork paused at Loki's lips, bite of salmon unclaimed. Loki stared at Tony as if he'd grown a second head and both had started to speak in a language he hadn't studied. 

"You want me to move in with you? Off...off campus? Why?" Loki blinked. That was rude. "I just mean...this is the first time I've heard of you wanting to move out of the dorm, and you always complain about my music." 

"That's just because I'm an uncultured jerk, and I don't...know your music. I'm willing to learn more. Come on, Lo. What do you say? Aren't you tired of a communal kitchen where nothing works consistently...and where...if you walk away for a minute, someone steals your food or your pans? You won't have to eat on campus anymore unless you just have some sort of craving for that cardboard pizza with whatever that is that passes for cheese." Tony tilted his head and gave Loki his best puppy dog eyes. "C'mon, Lo. We could...we could apply before winter break's over and maybe wind up in something before we go back. Then we could just...move in." 

Loki took the bite of food still on his fork and chewed slowly, deliberately while Tony spoke. His mind raced with all things domestic that their dorm just couldn't support. It was easy to slip into that almost conjugal fantasy when it was Tony suggesting cohabitation; Tony on whom Loki had doted on in his thoughts for the last two years and counting. 

* * *

He'd been lying on his stomach reading one book by Federico García Lorca and conjugating verbs in Icelandic in another. Loki was distracted by the poetry, however, always coming back to the lines, _To gaze at your dark eyes /what would I give /Dawns of rainbow garnet /fanning open before God_ and _And to kiss your pure thighs /what would I give /Raw rose crystal /sediment of the sun_ , reading them over and over again until his eyes fogged over and only images of Tony, sprawled on his bed, bared to his mouth. The only time he looked away from the book pinned under his fingertips was to peek over his shoulder at the door, which remained closed. 

Tony hadn't come back through that door since he left on his date. If Loki could tear the word apart with his teeth and spit it out, he would; such was what he thought about Tony and his dating. 

He rubbed his chest and face-planted into his pillow and hated being tortured by his feelings for his roommate. His dejection was so loud in his brain that he didn't hear the rattling of the doorknob after the lock clicked open. 

Tony walked into the dorm and locked the door behind him. He caught sight of Loki lying on his bed, buried in his books, so quietly, he hung up his jacket by the door and made his way to his bunk. His eyes climbed Loki's body as he stepped into the main area, lingering on those perfect calves and thighs – not to mention his ass! – defined so well in the well-loved wolf-print knit pj bottoms. 

"Hey, Lo," he greeted softly, wanting his roommate to know he was there so he wouldn't startle him. 

Muffled from the pillow, Loki replied, "Hey, Tony," and then he tilted his head and watched his roommate sit down on the edge of his own bed and toe off his shoes. "Good date?" He tried not to sound bitter. _Stupid emotions_.

Tony shrugged then pulled off his socks and tossed them toward his laundry basket. One made it all the way in while the other dangled precariously on the edge. 

"It was...good," he admitted. "I guess we're going out again in a couple of nights." Tony wondered if Loki would catch the reluctance in his voice and ask about it. 

But all Loki heard was that Tony was going out with this girl again. It must be serious if his roommate planned to have a second date with her. 

"That's...cool. She must be special," Loki stated and pushed himself up until he was sitting on his bed, his studies and romantic poetry forgotten as he tried to figure out a reason to get out of the dorm. He might do or say something stupid if he stayed around Tony's happy blissful dating self, and he didn't want to wreck their friendship all for some...unrequited crush. 

Tony watched while Loki sat up and started pulling on the socks he'd tucked in his sneakers by the bed. He blinked when Loki stood up and reached for the leather jacket he'd hung over his desk chair. 

"Uh...g...going somewhere, Lo?" he asked. 

Loki heard Tony's voice crack a little in surprise. 

"Yeah, I just...I think I left something over at the library, and I need to. Um. Get it," he replied and stuck his feet into his sneakers without untying them. "I'll be back later." 

Before Tony could stop him, Loki was out the door, his keys jingling until they were shoved in his pocket. The door closed with Tony staring at it, and at the sheer absence of his roommate, his shoulders fell and he wondered if he'd done something wrong. He walked over to their desks, which sat side by side between their beds and up against the windows. He tugged down the blinds and watched as Loki tracked across the snow. 

But he was heading in the opposite direction from the library.

* * *

Tony's eyes reflected the white lights in the more formal living room as he stood by the seven-foot tree that took up the entirety of one of the windows. Much of the decorating had been started post-Thanksgiving, apparently, but the Odinson family left part of it for the boys' return at winter break. He was awed by their traditions and couldn't help but be jealous about the way they brought them together as a family. 

Okay, so he was getting more pissed by the constant picking that Thor threw at Loki, but Tony wasn't sure if that was because he wanted to protect his friend or because he wanted to protect a much deeper crush that he wasn't sure he could ever talk about. Odin also harped about their grades, which wouldn't be in for another week, and tsked and tutted over Loki's current degree plan of choice – psychology and gender studies. 

Other than that, they seemed like a normal family, and Tony coveted it all for himself. 

"Thor, you absolute asshole!" Loki exclaimed, making Tony turn to see what was going on now. 

Loki was pinned down onto the floor by his older and much bulkier brother who was trying to press Christmas bows onto his head. He was fighting back as best he could, but Thor was just too strong, and no matter how much those long arms and legs flailed and pushed and kicked back, the elder brother missed getting hit and still achieved his goals. Fandral and Hogun each stood by the tree, adding on a few ornaments themselves, and they laughed at Thor's antics without offering to help Loki at all. 

"Hey, big guy. Why don't you leave Loki alone?" Tony defended and handed off the ornament he was holding to Fandral as he moved over to Loki. He gave Thor's shoulder a shove then crouched by his friend. 

Thor pushed himself up on his feet in a move more elegant than someone his size should be allowed. His cheeks were flushed and he still shook with laughter even as he backed away from the prone Loki. 

"This is always one of my favorite traditions!" he exclaimed as he offered his hand to Loki, who scowled at him from his prone position. 

Loki ignored that outstretched hand as he did year after year as he glared up at the mountain that was his brother. When Tony helped him to sit up, he leaned into his hands, both grateful for the support and embarrassed that his roommate...his best friend...was witness to his further humiliation at the hands of his only sibling. The sibling that made him often wish the Odinsons had never been contacted by the adoption agency. 

"I should stab you with mistletoe, asshole," Loki snarled and took Tony's hand once his friend was back up on his feet and offering. He stood up and let go of his friend, immediately reaching up to pull the sticky bows from his hair. 

Tony glared up at Thor again, stepping between the brothers but not in a way that was intentionally threatening. Well, not as threatening as he could be if he really wanted to be. Nevermind that Thor towered over him by at least twenty feet and out-muscled him like a Hum-V compared to a...well, Tony liked to think of himself as a classic Porsche. 

"You really are like Chet Donnelly. You know that, right? You don't have the shitty hair, but you're just like Chet. You oughta feel lucky that Loki can't turn you into anything gross because you'd deserve it," Tony proclaimed. He huffed when Thor just laughed, and then he turned to see if Loki was okay. 

Loki and Tony lost all track of what happened in that moment. What they didn't see, because they were both too busy looking at each other, was Fandral holding up the ball of real mistletoe that had yet to be hung from the doorframe as per Odinson tradition, wiggling it around to catch Thor's attention. Over the other two, Thor grinned and nodded, and then he and Hogun moved in a choreographed dance, each nudging Tony and Loki closer until they were smushed together while Fandral stood on tiptoes to hold the Yuletide love plant above their heads. 

The three were chanting 'kiss kiss kiss kiss' until Loki and Tony were both deaf from it, and it took Loki peeking above them to see what was going on, even as his hands curled into Tony's flannel shirt. He rolled his eyes and tilted his head down to apologize to his friend, only to find Tony's hands cupping his face to pull it further down until their lips mashed together. It wasn't the first kiss that Tony had fantasized about with Loki, and he mentally kicked himself for not giving Loki the absolute best he had in him. Before he could pull away to apologize, he felt Loki's lips part to deepen the kiss, and Tony's heart turned into the drum solo from Steely Dan's 'Aja'. He tasted the faint chipotle and honey on Loki's tongue, and the thought of that – of finally kissing Loki outside of his daydreams – turned his knees into Jello. 

"That boy never tells me a damned thing," Odin stated when he and Frigga walked up right at the moment of the kiss, sounding more like a confused sitcom dad than the one who usually came off as disappointed in his son's choices. "Frigga, did you know those two were an item?" 

Frigga's lips angled into a knowing smile. She held a tray of cups filled to the brim with thick, piping hot chocolate. A bowl of homemade whipped cream and a small plate stacked with also homemade marshmallows flanked the cups. 

"I might've had suspicions that it was heading this way. Just behave, darling, and let our son enjoy this," she instructed. Then her eyes fell on Thor as he made his way to claim one of the mugs. "Tell me something, Thor." 

"Yes, Mom?"

"Did your truck really get wrecked?" 

The sheepish smile from earlier when Frigga scolded him returned, bigger and more obnoxious than ever. Thor brought a finger up to his lips and winked at her. 

* * *

[Epilogue]

The air in Loki's room was heady with balsam and citrus from the jarred candles placed at the four corners. The blinds were open to let the half-moon caress the room in shimmery light. 

Underneath the sheets, two bodies, long deserving to be this vulnerable together, writhed and squirmed. Loki's laugh burst from his chest when Tony discovered yet another ticklish spot before it was silenced again by a kiss. Loki coaxed another moan as his hands glided over Tony's bare skin. A gasp pulled from Loki when Tony pushed into him again and again. And again. He nipped at Tony's bottom lip and wrapped one leg around his hips held him still as he thrust up against him. 

"Shh...," Loki shushed but giggled louder until Tony crushed their lips together again. 

Loki's toes curled until they cramped, but he didn't care because Tony's hand had slid between them and started stroking him in time with his thrusts. If he went up in flames and this was how he died, he would be completely fine with it. 

Another thrust and Loki's heat clenching down on him made Tony start to cry out. 

"...shhhhhh...Tony-goddammit...ahhhhHhh!"

 _Tony-goddammit_.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some notes about the characters after I researched MIT a bit. Obviously, some of these details didn't make it into the story (nor did two of the characters).
> 
> Loki's been at MIT since he was 15 because he's that much of a genius. He's already got one SB degree in Literature, one in Foreign Languages (Scandinavian languages), and is currently simultaneously pursuing a degree in Gender Studies and Psychology with the intent of getting a counseling degree/license. All of this is against Odin's wishes, having hoped he'd go into business like Thor. 
> 
> Thor - Pursuing a Management Degree, focusing on Cyber security and other security to start his own business (this is what Odin wanted both Thor and Loki to do).
> 
> Sif - Wellesly - Women's studies, psychology/sociology.
> 
> Fandral - MIT Humanities
> 
> Hogun - MIT Languages and Management
> 
> Volstagg - Time in the military then college and is married with kids - intends to work with Thor in his business once he's done and starts it.


End file.
